Staff Picks
DiandraJade City
Fonda Lee
Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion. Now, the war is over and a new generation of Kauls vies for control of Kekon's bustling capital city. They care about nothing but protecting their own, cornering the jade market, and defending the districts under their protection. Ancient tradition has little place in this rapidly changing nation. When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone even foreigners wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones.
Diandra Says: A compelling cast of characters and imaginative world-building make Jade City hard to put down. Inspired by classic Kung Fu movies and mafia films, Fonda Lee’s debut adult fantasy novel features plenty of action, crime, and complex family dynamics. There was never a dull moment.
Also available in: ebook
Diandra's Past Staff Picks
ElizabethGirl waits with gun
Amy Stewart
Constance Kopp doesn't quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters from city to country fifteen years ago. When a powerful, ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their family farm. The sheriff enlists her help, and it turns out Constance has a knack for outwitting (and disarming) the criminal element which might just take her back out into the world and onto a new path in life. Quick-witted and full of madcap escapades, Girl Waits with Gun is a story about one woman rallying the courage to stand up for and grow into herself with a little help from sisters and sheriffs along the way.
Elizabeth Says: A fun novel about one of the nation's first female deputy sheriffs. Recommended for the Read More 2020 category of Based on a True Story.
Also available in: ebook
Elizabeth's Past Staff Picks
GefenMad Max: Fury Road
A return to the world of the Road Warrior, Max Rockatansky. Haunted by his turbulent past, he believes the best way to survive is to wander alone. Nevertheless, he becomes swept up with a group fleeing across the Wasteland in a War Rig driven by an elite Imperator, Furiosa. They are escaping a Citadel tyrannized by the Immortan Joe, from whom something irreplaceable has been taken. Enraged, the Warlord with his gangs, pursues the rebels ruthlessly in the high-octane Road War that follows.
Gefen Says: This is one of the greatest action movies ever made. It is chaotic, yet measured. It is in your face, yet beautifully shot. It tells a moving story and does so with few words. Plus, there is a guy suspended above a truck who plays an electric guitar through a wall of speakers as it drives into battle. How cool is that?
Gefen's Past Staff Picks
Megan
Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, a meditation on depression and the end of the world, stars Kirsten Dunst as an emotionally troubled newlywed named Justine, whose sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) throws her a lavish wedding party. While her lack of emotional stability begins to take a toll on Justine's new marriage as well as the party -- and old wounds are exposed -- Claire's wealthy husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) also knows a great deal about a planet that is on a possible collision course with Earth, further muddying the waters. The second half of the movie focuses on Claire, who ends up taking her sister in after the marriage collapses, and also begins to fear that John is hiding apocalyptically bad news. John Hurt and Charlotte Rampling co-star.
Megan Says: This film is so eccentric, so artsy, so utterly nightmarish. I adore it, but I know it won’t be for everyone…probably not for very many in fact…which is too bad because it is pure genius.
Nina
Troubled Blood
Robert Galbraith
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough - who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974. Strike has never tackled a cold case before, but despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike. As Strike and Robin investigate Margot's disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer, and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly.
Nina Says: It takes a few books for most series to really settle in and have all the elements be pitch-perfect. In this latest installment by Galbraith, the Cormoran Strike series hits its stride. The British Isle is as much a character as the suspects and Comoran and Robin’s lives are deftly woven into the various cases the agency has to handle. Grab a mug of tea and biscuits (cookies) and settle in for an engrossing read.
Also available in: ebook & audiobook
Nina's Past Staff Picks